Learn
Experience the transformative power of art at any age
Harwood Education and Public Programs offer opportunities to engage deeply with museum exhibitions and collections. Learn more about programs for students, teachers, families, and adults.
Community Day, October 13, 2025, Luchita Hurtado: Earth & Sky Interjected, July 27,2024-February 23, 2025. Photo by Shayla Blatchford Photography.
School Tour, March 2025, Nicholas Herrera: El Rito Santero (September 21, 2024 - June 1, 2025). Photo by Shayla Blatchford Photography.
Visit the Museum or Bring Harwood to You!
Harwood now offers in-classroom visits in addition to our museum tours. All programs are led by Harwood Teaching Artists who have completed background checks and are approved to be on campus at Taos Municipal Schools. Classroom visits are available Tuesday – Friday and Museum Tours are available Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Self-guided tours are available during regular museum hours, Wednesday through Sunday from 11am-5pm. Bus grants are generously supported by Uplift Youth Fund by Taos Ski Valley, Inc.
All tours are aligned with National Common Core and Visual Art Standards as well as New Mexico State Core Standards, Social and Emotional Learning Core Competencies, and Studio Habits of Mind.
2025-2026 School Tour Themes
Clay Spohn, Exuberant Garden, c. 1940s, oil on canvas, 44 x 30. Courtesy of 203 Fine Art.
Museum Tour: The Pursuit of Happiness
On this school tour, a Teaching Artist will lead students through the exhibition Pursuit of Happiness: GI Bill in Taos, exploring how artists following World War II grappled with their own wartime experience and emerged into a new world where traditional rules of art had been thrown out the window. Incorporating art and music, students will experience how tuning into their emotions and drawing inspiration from the world around them can boost their creative confidence.
Eva Mirabal and Althea Karr, American Indian Communities of the United States, 1959, 37 ¾ in. x 24 in., illustrated map. Collection of Jonathan Warm Day Coming and Christopher Gomez
In-Class Visit: The Art of Eva Mirabal
Bring the Harwood to you! A Harwood Teaching Artist will lead your students through an activity focusing on the life and work of Eva Mirabal, a pioneering Native American artist from Taos Pueblo. This works as a standalone lesson or can serve as an introduction for a visit to the museum.
Mother and daughter, Luchita Hurtado: Earth & Sky Interjected, Harwood Community Day, October 13, 2025, Harwood Museum of Art. Photo by Shayla Blatchford Photography
Harwood Education is committed to supporting and engaging families through accessible and engaging art programming.
Family Art Lab is a monthly teaching artist-led workshop that combines a conversation in front of a work of art in the museum with a hands-on project in the Education Studio. Family-friendly community events like Lighting Ledoux, First Friday, Block Party, and Community Day offer art making and interactive activities for all ages. If you can’t make it to one of these events, every Sunday the museum is free to Taos County residents and youth under 18 are always free.
Upcoming Family Programs
Bring Harwood Museum into your home or classroom with these learning resources.
Maja Ruznic, Her Arrival III, 2020. Oil on linen, 94 x 76 in. (238.8 x 193 cm) © Maja Ruznic. Courtesy the artist and Karma
Exploring Emotions: Maja Ruznic
Learn about New Mexico-based artist Maja Ruznic in this SEL-focused lesson and activity about communicating emotion through art.
Harwood Education and Public Programs team curates a variety of adult education opportunities
These programs including tours, lecture series, gallery talks, films, concerts, and art workshops. Become a Member and enjoy a 20% discount on all programming.
Upcoming Adult Programs
Education Center: Community Day, March 2022. Photo by Sam Joseph Photography.
The Fern Hogue Mitchell Education Center
The Fern Hogue Mitchell Education Center is a dedicated area for art-making programs housed in a sun-filled space that was once the living room of the original home of Burt and Lucy Harwood.
In addition to the studio, the Sidney and Gladys Smith Children’s Art Gallery offers an extension gallery where student art can be showcased. Taos’ original children’s library, part of the Harwood Public Library from the 1920s to the 1990s was once housed in the studio. Thanks to the generosity of Orin and Stephanie Smith the studio has been restored to its original splendor and named for Stephanie’s grandmother, the beloved Taos schoolteacher, Fern Hogue Mitchell.
Community Day, March 2022. Photo by Sam Joseph Photography.
Contact Us
For more information or inquires please email education@harwoodmuseum.org
Support Education Programs
Harwood Education programs serve thousands of Taos youth and adults every year through school tours, after-school programs, family programs, teacher professional development, and special events. Nearly all these programs are offered free of charge thanks to the generous support from members of our community like you. Your gift helps bring art making activities and programs that spark creativity and support social and emotional health to our community.
We are grateful for the generous support this past year from J3 Advised Fund, Taos Community Foundation, Taos Ski Valley, Inc., and 38 individual donors.
Make your tax-deductible donation today to help art education thrive in our community.
